1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the field of wireless communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel method for originating packet data service option calls via dial-up networking applications.
2. Description of Related Art
Recent innovations in wireless communication and computer-related technologies, as well as the unprecedented growth of Internet subscribers, have paved the way for mobile computing. In fact, the popularity of mobile computing has placed greater demands on the current communications infrastructure to provide mobile users with more support. A crucial part of meeting these demands and providing users with the necessary support is the use of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology in wireless communication systems.
CDMA is a digital radio-frequency (RF) channelization technique that is defined in the Telecommunications Industry Association/Electronics Industries Association Interim Standard-95 (TIA/EIA IS-95), entitled xe2x80x9cMOBILE STATION-BASE STATION COMPATIBILITY STANDARD FOR DUAL-MODE WIDEBAND SPREAD SPECTRUM CELLULAR SYSTEMxe2x80x9d, published in July 1993 and herein incorporated by reference. Wireless communication systems employing this technology assign a unique code to communication signals and spread these communication signals across a common wideband spread spectrum bandwidth. As long as the receiving apparatus in a CDMA system has the correct code, it can successfully detect and select its communication signal from the other signals concurrently transmitted over the same bandwidth. The use of CDMA produces an increase in system traffic capacity, improves overall call quality and noise reduction, and provides a reliable transport mechanism for data service traffic.
FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified block diagram of such a wireless data communication system 100. System 100 allows a mobile terminal equipment, TE2 device 102 (e.g., the terminal equipment such as laptop or palmtop computer) to communicate with an Interworking Function (IWF) 108. System 100 includes a wireless communication device, MT2 device 104 (e.g., wireless telephone), and a Base Station/Mobile Switching Center (BS/MSC) 106. The IWF 108 serves as a gateway between the wireless network and other networks, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and wireline packet data networks providing Internet- or Intranet-based access. An L interface couples IWF 108 to BS/MSC 106. Often the IWF 108 will be co-located with the BS/MSC 106. The TE2 device 102 is electronically coupled to the MT2 device 104 via the Rm interface. The MT2 device 104 communicates with the BS/MSC 106 via the wireless interface Um. The TE2 device 102 and the MT2 device 104 may be integrated into a single unit or may be separated out, as in the case of an installed mobile phone unit in which a laptop is the TE2 device 102 and the transceiver is the MT2 device 104. It is important to note that, as indicated by FIG. 2, the combination of the TE2 device 102 and the MT2 device 104, whether integrated or separate, is generally referred to as a mobile station (MS) 103.
The ability of CDMA systems to accommodate data service traffic has been defined in the TIA/EIA IS-707.5 standard, entitled xe2x80x9cDATA SERVICE OPTIONS FOR WIDEBAND SPREAD SPECTRUM SYSTEMS: PACKET DATA SERVICES,xe2x80x9d published in February 1998 and herein incorporated by reference. Similarly, the TIA/EIA IS-707-A.5 standard, entitled xe2x80x9cDATA SERVICE OPTIONS FOR SPREAD SPECTRUM SYSTEMS: PACKET DATA SERVICES,xe2x80x9d and the TIA/EIA IS-707-A.9 standard, entitled xe2x80x9cDATA SERVICE OPTIONS FOR SPREAD SPECTRUM SYSTEMS: HIGH-SPEED PACKET DATA SERVICES,xe2x80x9d both published in March 1999 and incorporated by reference, also define requirements for packet data transmission support on TIA/EIA IS-95 systems. In addition, new standards such as TIA/EIA IS-707-A-1 and A-2, entitled xe2x80x9cDATA SERVICE OPTIONS FOR SPREAD SPECTRUM SYSTEMS: CDMA2000 HIGH-SPEED PACKET DATA SERVICES,xe2x80x9d (Ballot Resolution Version 1999) and incorporated by reference, also define requirements for packet data transmission support on CDMA systems.
These IS-707.5 packet data services enable mobile users to use their laptop or palmtop computers (i.e., TE2 device 102) to receive and transmit packet data, thereby fully supporting Internet- and Intranet-networking connectivity. To wit, just as conventional users employ xe2x80x9cwiredxe2x80x9d communication devices to able to electronically connect their desktop computers to land-based networks, mobile users can utilize wireless communication devices (i.e., MT2 device 104) to electronically connect and communicate with such networks.
In particular, the IS-707.5 standard specifies the packet data service options that may be used to communicate between the TE2 device 102 and IWF 108 via BS/MSC 106. In doing so, IS-707.5 introduces two protocol option models, which specify the packet data protocol requirements for the Rm interface. FIG. 2 depicts one of the protocol option models, the Relay Layer Interface Protocol Option model 200, in which the application running on the TE2 device 102 manages the packet data services as well as the network addressing.
At the far left of FIG. 2 is a protocol stack, shown in conventional vertical format that depicts the protocol layers running on the TE2 device 102. At the top of the TE2 protocol stack lies the upper protocol layers, which includes the application layer 202. For mobile users utilizing packet data services to access the Internet and/or private Intranets, this layer 202 comprises, for example, web browser programs (e.g., Netscape Navigator(trademark), Microsoft Internet Explorer(trademark) etc.) and communications/networking applications (e.g., Microsoft Dial-Up Networking(trademark)).
The following protocol layer on the TE2 device 102 protocol stack is the transport layer protocol 204. As depicted in FIG.2, this protocol 204 may be the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). TCP is defined in Request for Comment 793 (RFC 793) entitled, xe2x80x9cTRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL: DARPA INTERNET PROGRAM PROTOCOL SPECIFICATIONxe2x80x9d, published in September 1981 and herein incorporated by reference. Essentially, TCP provides a reliable transport service to all applications by managing the assembly of messages coming from the TE2 device 102 into packets that are transmitted over the Internet.
The subsequent protocol layer is the network layer protocol 206. This protocol layer may include the Internet Protocol (IP), which is defined in Request for Comment 791 (RFC 791) entitled, xe2x80x9cINTERNET PROTOCOL: DARPA INTERNET PROGRAM PROTOCOL SPECIFICATIONxe2x80x9d, published in September 1981 and herein incorporated by reference. The IP protocol is the life-blood of the Internet as it handles the addressing and routing functionality for all Internet communications. It achieves this by affixing a 32-bit address to the header of packets, so as to ensure that the packets get to the right destination. Each intermediary node in the routing path checks the destination address to determine how to forward the IP packets.
The next layer protocol of the TE2 device 102 protocol stack is the link layer protocol 208. As indicated by FIG. 2, this layer may include the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) which is described in detail in Request for Comments 1661 (RFC 1661), entitled xe2x80x9cTHE POINT-TO-POINT PROTOCOL (PPP)xe2x80x9d, dated May 1992, and herein incorporated by reference. The PPP protocol is a link layer protocol used to configure, test, and establish the data link connection. The PPP protocol encodes packets coming from the upper protocol layers of the TE2102 device and xe2x80x9cserializesxe2x80x9d then to facilitate transmission on the serial communications link.
Finally, FIG. 2 illustrates that the TE2 protocol stack is logically connected to the protocol stack of the MT2 device 104 over the Rm interface through the relay layer protocol 210. The Rm interface may comply, for example, with the TIA/EIA-232-F standard, entitled xe2x80x9cINTERFACE BETWEEN DATA TERMINAL EQUIPMENT AND DATA CIRCUIT-TERMINATING EQUIPMENT EMPLOYING SERIAL BINARY DATA INTERCHANGExe2x80x9d, published in October 1997 and herein incorporated by reference. Other Rm interface standards may include, for example, the xe2x80x9cUNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB) SPECIFICATION, Revision 1.1xe2x80x9d, published in September 1998 and herein incorporated by reference.
As noted above, mobile users may utilize the packet data service options, as specified by the IS-707.5 standard, to access and communicate with the Internet or private Intranets. To do so, mobile users would employ a dial-up networking application, residing in the memory of TE2 device 102, such as Microsoft Dial-Up Networking(trademark), for example. The dial-up application includes a user dial-up interface that enables users to identify the type of serial MT2 device 104 connected to the TE2 device 102 as well as accommodate the entry of telephone numbers and username/password scripts. The user dial-up interface generally incorporates a dial-up engine which receives the telephone number inputted by the user and generates MT2 device 104 an initialization string. The dial-up engine then translates the inputted telephone number into an AT dial command string that is compliant with the Hayes(copyright) Standard AT Command Set language and transmits the initialization string as well as the AT dial command string to the MT2 device 104. Examples of such AT dial command strings are: xe2x80x9cATDT 5551234xe2x80x9d (for dialing telephone number 555-1234) or xe2x80x9cATI3xe2x80x9d (for determining modem ID).
Typically, a dial-up networking application will not initiate the transfer of PPP packets from the TE2 device 102 to the MT2 device 104, via the Rm interface, unless and until it receives confirmation that the MT2 device 104 has negotiated and established a connection across the Um interface. For example, for dial-up networking applications for TE2 devices 102 operating within a Windows(copyright) 95 environment, TE2 device 102 will only transmit PPP packets to the MT2 device 104 after it receives a xe2x80x9cConnectxe2x80x9d message, or the like, from MT2 device 104. Therefore, instead of automatically initiating a packet call upon detecting a PPP packet, TE2 device 102 has to wait until it receives the Connect message.
Moreover, other TE2 device 102 operating systems, such as Windows(copyright) 98 and Windows(copyright) NT, for example, further require a high Data Carrier Detect (DCD) signal which, pursuant to the TIA/EIA-232-F standard on the Rm interface, is used to indicate that a channel carrier has been established. This high DCD signal requirement further complicates the transmission of PPP packets because, under the TIA/EIA IS-707-A.3 standard, a high DCD signal is only provided by the MT2 device 104 after a traffic channel has been established. Thus, for TE2 devices 102 operating in a Windows(copyright) 98 or Windows(copyright) NT environment, before the TE2 device 102 can begin transmitting PPP packets, a traffic channel has to be established, a high DCD signal level has to be provided to the MT2 device 104, and the MT2 device 104 must supply a xe2x80x9cConnectxe2x80x9d message back to the TE2 device 102.
Therefore, what is needed is a novel method that enables terminal devices to efficiently originate packet data service option calls via dial-up networking applications.
The present invention addresses the need identified above by providing a novel system and method that enables terminal devices to efficiently originate packet data service option calls via dial-up networking applications.
Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the present invention as embodied and broadly described herein include a terminal device for originating a call and for transmitting and receiving data in accordance with a selected data service option. The terminal device includes a dialing interface for inputting a sequence of one or more symbols representing a dial command string for originating the call. The input symbol sequence includes information indicating the selection of a data service option. The system also includes a communication device, coupled to the terminal device, for receiving the dial command string from the terminal device, for storing a plurality of pre-determined symbol sequences including standard telephone numbers and reserved telephone number sequences representing different data service options, and for comparing the contents of the dial command string with the stored pre-determined symbol sequences. The communications device operates in accordance with the selected data service option when the communication device determines that the contents of the dial command string matches one of the reserved telephone number sequences.